Graphene. It can be stronger than steel and thinner than paper. It can generate electricity when struck by light. It can be used in thin, flexible supercapacitors that are up to 20 times more powerful than the ones we use right now and can be made in a DVD burner. It’s already got an impressive track record, but does it have any more tricks up its sleeve? Apparently, yes. According to researchers at MIT, graphene could also increase the efficicency of desalination by two or three orders of magnitude. Seriously, what can’t this stuff do?

So, what exactly is bringing the Internet of Things to fruition? A big factor is the plunging cost of connectivity, which is being driven by the emergence of Heterogeneous Networks (often referred to as “HetNets”). HetNets offer a way to increase the density and bandwidth available to mobile devices.

To give you an idea of their potential scale, Free.fr, one of the world’s first HetNets, located in France, has more than 4 million WiFi hotspots connected to the network and enjoys data transfer costs that are probably far below $1 per gigabyte. (...)

The second major factor driving the Internet of Things is the explosion of low-cost, smart, standardized sensor networks. Consumer hobbyists are leading the way here. Kickstarter, the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects is hosting numerous sensor projects that are designed to enable consumers to rapidly deploy and utilize large numbers of sensors around the home and office.

Raspberry Pi is one of the most popular recent initiatives in this space. The company has created a credit card-sized computer that integrates with physical devices like TVs and keyboards to give users PC functionality, such as spreadsheets and word processing, without having to buy a computer. Designed for hobbyists, it starts at a mere $25.

Another interesting initiative is Sensordrone, a multi-sensor device for smartphones that was recently funded by Kickstarter that gives phones even more capabilities, like connecting to printers. In another development, Nokia pledged to push the envelope in terms of adding new and innovative sensors and geo-location capabilities to their phones.

I'd like you to consider the possibility that nature embodies within herself a kind of Internet, and that through our brain we might be able to communicate with it.

Systems philosopher Ervin Laszlo asks, If Your Brain Is A Quantum Computer, Can It Connect You To The World? In it, he poses a quantum idea of knowing:

Not only are the neurons of our brain thoroughly entangled with each other–so that they can assemble and then process information with lightning speed–they are also entangled with the world beyond our brain. The logical conclusion is that the bulk of the information picked up and processed by the brain is not stored within the brain; it’s stored in the vast information field that embeds the brain.

Spanda is a Sanskrit term – derived from the root spadi: “to move a little” (kimcit calana) – for the subtle creative pulse of the universe as it manifests into the dynamism of living form. (...)

It might be described as the essence of a wave in the ocean of consciousness. An impulse or desire to create and enjoy, likened to an eternal spring, joyfully overflowing its inner essence into manifestation and inspiration, yet ever full, complete and unchanging. (...)

"Spanda is the pulsation of the ecstasy of the divine consciousness", as Abinahavagupta (975-1025 c.e.) defines it. When we sense this pulsation inside us, we are sensing our own personal spark of that huge, primordial life force. It is the energy behind the breath, the heartbeat, and the movement of our thoughts and feelings. It is also the source of all our inner experiences. When we get deep into ourselves, we realize that this throb, this subtle pulsation, is actually ‘meditating’ us.

Many dream of taking control of their careers: setting their own hours, choosing their own projects, and calling all the shots. But, according to a new report, an increasing number of people are making their dreams of independence a reality.

I just watched an episode of Grand Designs where these guys built a house in a couple of months from parts cut on-site and assembled by hand.

"Facit Homes first designs the house using a 3D computer model, which contains every aspect from its orientation, material quantities, even down to the position of individual plug sockets. The patented “D-Process” then transforms the 3D digital designs into the home’s exact physical building components, using a computer controlled cutter. These components are usually made from engineered spruce ply and are light and easy enough to then be assembled together on site. Since the components are produced on demand, costs are kept to a minimum and lead times are eradicated."

3D printing will soon allow digital object storage and transportation, as well as personal manufacturing and very high levels of product customization. This video by Christopher Barnatt of ExplainingTheFuture.com illustrates 3D printing today and in the future.

"... a growing community of scientists and social activists, sharing the basic insight that a reduction of energy and material use implies a reduction of gross domestic product (GDP), is gathering under the heading of sustainable degrowth.3 Degrowth obviously entails a fundamental transformation of economic structures. But what precisely are the necessary steps?"

Ask kids where the broccoli they turn their noses up at comes from, they’ll probably say “the supermarket”. (Sadly, many adults might say the same.) Of course, that broccoli actually comes out of the soil, mostly likely the soil of Big Agriculture farms and shipped across the country or the world. Despite the upswing in urban gardening and the locavore movement, to date these are attempts at food self-sufficiency at the atomic level. Incredible Edible cofounder Pam Warhurst aims to accelerate such efforts, and started a project in the British town of Todmorden to grow edible crops on the town’s unused land.

The only logically coherent and scientifically valid function of money/currency is to record the measure of value and its divisions so that the value of portions of indivisible wealth may be negotiated.

As a record of value, the unit used to measure value must obey the mathematics of measure and the science of passive stability i.e. Passive BIBO Currency (Note: that stability is a requirement for measure). This value recording function colloquially understood as “providing liquidity” can be universally performed and accessed without any arbitrary limits or conditions using a standard technical specification and without any requirement for the unit to “circulate”.

The notion that money is an “object” that must “circulate” in order for value to be generated is a logical and scientific absurdity and represents the basis of the rationales being exploited to justify the actions being taken by authorities to deal with the current crisis. However, if the “circulation” model of money is not accurate then such actions cease to have legitimacy as they are based on a false model of reality...

Pssst! Here's a secret. A new, resilient global economy is emerging and the timing couldn't be better. How so?

How so? It’s amazing luck that a new resilient economy is emerging at the very same time the current economic system is in the process of being reset. Fortunately, this new resilient economy will make it increasingly possible to re-localize economic life and will radically improve the quality, stability and prosperity of its participant’s lives over the long run.

Here’s An Example

A good example of the emerging resilient economy is a venture called the Solar Pocket Factory...

From the roots of the word Economy as the 'Rules of the household' into a whole fluent explanation of how we should look at nature's zero waste economy to design or economic system. She says -We never really had a science of economics. She ends with speaking about a gift currency of how money is issued to make the transaction happens but disappears afterwards. Highest evolution is a gifted currency.

About a decade ago, I would stand in the middle of a square somewhere and imagine that everything I saw could and would one day be possibly connected.

In my mind that was not such a new idea. Animists in Africa and Asia have for centuries talked about "living" inanimate objects, believing that things had a soul and taking good care of them. Humans are meaning-making machines, so we invest inanimate landscapes and objects with all kinds of qualities that they cannot really possess.

Ten years on, that daydream is becoming a reality with the Internet of Things. Loosely defined as a global process to enhance all objects with some kind of digital address, IoT is already coming to you: to your home as the smart meter that will streamline all your electrical appliances; to your connected car that will have distance sensors and eCall to alert accidents; and to your body as a patch in an intelligent T-shirt or the Siemens hearing aid that aims to pick up the fire truck noise and soften it before you “hear” it. In terms of "the next big thing" this is as big as fire and the book.

And it’s inevitable. Why? Because a confluence of historical factors has come together to make what was once the domain of science fiction a reality. Let’s quickly take a look at those drivers.

The Finnish government has approved the technology behind a new 'Open Ministry' platform, which will act as a hub for citizens who want new laws voted on in the country's parliament. But could that work elsewhere?

You have probably heard of hierarchy, and also anarchy. These two terms used socially refer to the way we organise our socio-economic lives. Well these are not mutually exclusive sole alternatives in our political lives.

We humans think we make all our decisions to act consciously and willfully. We all feel we are wonderfully unified, coherent mental machines and that our underlying brain structure must reflect this overpowering sense. It doesn’t. No command center keeps all other brain systems hopping to the instructions of a five-star general. The brain has millions of local processors making important decisions. There is no one boss in the brain. You are certainly not the boss of your brain. Have you ever succeeded in telling your brain to shut up already and go to sleep?

"...what is emerging fast is the alternative of a commons based economy. Peer to peer, social sharing, collaborative consumption, commons, economic democracy are all terms that cover economic activity that moves beyond the market and the state, based on cooperation and harnessing human creativity."

Excellent analysis by Derek Wall on the need to move to an economy of sharing, an economy of the commons as an alternative to failed socialism (state) and failed capitalism (market).

Mobile computing is the way of the future, but most sensor products have not kept up, and are still very expensive and bulky. Sensordrone is a multi-purpose, configurable sensor that dramatically extends the sensing capability of smartphones & tablets. It is a key Fob sized platform for both consumers and developers (software and hardware developers).

Nationalize Money, Not Banks Herman Daly Emeritus Professor University of Maryland School of Public Policy

If our present banking system, in addition to fraudulent and corrupt, also seems “screwy” to you, it should.

Why should money, a public utility (serving the public as medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account), be largely the by-product of private lending and borrowing? Is that really an improvement over being a by-product of private gold mining, as it was under the gold standard?

The best way to sabotage a system is hobble it by tying together two of its separate parts, creating an unnecessary and obstructive connection.

Why should the public pay interest to the private banking sector to provide a medium of exchange that the government can provide at little or no cost? Why should seigniorage (profit to the issuer of fiat money) go largely to the private sector rather than entirely to the government (the commonwealth)?

Stephen Belgin's "New Money for a New World", the book he co-authored with Bernard Lietaer has just been published. New Money for a New World examines a previously unexamined culprit for the many issues we face today—the monopoly of our centuries old monetary system.

In this interview Stephen talks about the book as well as the monetary system and how it was connected with "Great Mother" in ancient times. He emphasizes the need for local complementary currencies to support the feminine principles and values to inform our creations.

They want to be 100% organic & biodynamic. They pledge to be carbon neutral. They also measure material and inmaterial dimension of education and are moving from a monarchy to a democracy. All the hierarchy reports from the point of view of GNH.

GNH is Not hippie happiness but: a transformative approach, a non-dual perspective (understading of the oneness of people and land) and a systemic approach (considering all levels of the system). Bottom up and top down. They are also creating a Center to apply GNH.

Tho Ha Vinh and Julia Kim on Gross National Happiness (GNH) in Bhutan, at the Presencing Global Forum 2012 in Berlin...

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